How to Start an Esports Program

When we first started looking at where we would consider offering e-sports, we started in Chautauqua County, and when that conversation started, the partner we brought in was only working on large spaces, much larger than what we’re talking about here. They weren’t interested in small spaces. In fact, they may have said something along the lines that it couldn’t work in a smaller space. I think that was sad because again, as we first started looking at e-sports, what we were hearing was make sure you’re ready to go because it grows so fast that if you’re not ready, you’re going to be looking for space and put yourself in a situation where you’re not able to keep up. As the conversation continued and we made the decision, if we were going to offer e-sports, it made sense for us to do this. And the Cattaraugus County campus is part of the plan to reintroduce. We found a partner that looked in, had different experience in how we wanted to introduce it in it fit better with our plan. And so it led us to you as a partner and in what we have here now.

You know, I love this space. And we had been looking for some time on what to do with this depo. It hadn’t been used much for the past five, six years. And, you know, as we explored ideas, I really felt through all of those conversations that if we equip this space for the right purpose, in the right way, our students, especially our high school students, would want to be in this space. It’s such a cool space. And so now, for the first time in years, this building, this space has a purpose and it’s e-sports. I foresee within months students just buzzing through this building nonstop that they’re going to want to be in here. They’re going to want mom or dad somebody to drop them off so they can spend the day here, be in this building, and be on the equipment, in the furniture and with each other competing.

So our institution made a commitment to try to grow the enrollment annually on campus, which is one of our branch campuses. And we did some research on what is out there and what’s available, not only for what growth there is in the sport, but also we can attract students from this region. And so EA Sport was a hot topic or hot trigger. And so that was the area in which we thought that we could progress in, because what we’re finding out is that everybody is a gamer, whether you’re a football player, basketball player, soccer player, runner, it seems like everybody is a gamer. And we just felt like this game was the biggest opportunity to attract the young people in this region to come all in and have this opportunity.

I think our space is built with growth and development. It’s not built for today and then be out of date, you know, three months, six months or a year and a half from now. So obviously our square footage here, we built an arena, we built practice rules, we built a plug and play room. We have a viewing area. We have coaches’ offices. We’re not crammed into one little computer lab. We built this thing to grow and mature. And also, not only did we do it with the idea of having this for the campus and our students, but also at some point in time, open it up more for our community and our high schools and stuff like that. We’ve heard from many high school coaches that are running these sport clubs that are anxious about coming here and being able to play face to face instead of doing it over discord or online. So we built it with growth in mind. And so it’s our little field of dreams. Build it and they will come. So we’re hoping that that will transpire over the next year, year and a half.

So our E Sport program is going to be based out of the Olin campus and is all in County Cattaraugus County. A lot of our it’s a rule area in smaller schools. So what we’re trying to do is to try to create opportunities on campus for our young people to have a more college experience here, not just to come here and get a degree and get their credit hours and and move along. So we just felt like Eastport was one that transcended lots of sports because they’re all like I said before, if you’re a football player, you’re probably a gamer. If you’re a basketball player, you probably are a gamer. So it allows us to have a bigger umbrella for young people to catch their attention. So Cattaraugus County, the enchanted mountains of western New York, Allegheny Mountains, it’s a really. We enjoy all four seasons. And so I don’t know much more to say other than it’s a rural community with a lot of good people. And we’re just looking to foster a bigger experience for our young people to take advantage of here.